The Military Tallies Are in Hand

Seeing Zhang Wei in such a miserable state, Su Jin couldn't bear it.

Half-crouching, she reached out to gently stroke Zhang Wei's face, saying softly, "Husband, from the moment I married you, I have been yours. How could I ever be disloyal?"

"You... you must not let your imagination run wild..."

Before she could finish her sentence, a foot kicked out from the side.

It sent her flying two meters away.

Burning with rage, Ren Tianye roared, "I told you to get the military tally, not to flirt with this dog Zhang Wei!"

"Do you want to die?"

"Wang Ming!"

"Here!"

"Strip this woman naked and have the brothers line up. Today, I'm going to use this woman to reward the troops!"

"Yes, sir!" Wang Ming took the order. With a wave of his hand, the five soldiers surrounding them surged forward together.

This instantly frightened Su Jin out of her wits, draining the color from her beautiful face.

It also shocked Zhang Wei back to his senses.

"No, no! Ren Tianye, don't touch my wife! I'll tell you where the military tally is."

"You should have said so earlier!"

Ren Tianye knew perfectly well that losing control of his emotions right now was a massive taboo, but he simply couldn't calm down. Mainly because these hopelessly romantic fools were too damn torturous.

He didn't even dare to think about it.

If, after he raised his rebellion, the entire Great Yu Empire was filled with these nonsensical, communication-impaired fools blinded by love, how massive of a headache would he have!

Fortunately, he quickly suppressed these emotions and immediately demanded coldly, "Where is the military tally?"

"It's guarded by my personal guards..." Zhang Wei said. "In a moment, you just need to take my waist tag and ask my guards for it. They will give it to you."

"That simple?"

Ren Tianye was suspicious, feeling there was a trick.

The importance of a military tally to a general was simply too high. It could be said that losing the tally was a crime punishable by beheading at the very least.

Such an important military tally could be retrieved just by presenting a waist tag?

How could those guards not verify it?

"Are you playing with me?"

"Believe it or not, I'll immediately throw Su Jin to the army camp!"

Zhang Wei said anxiously, "No, no, Ren Tianye, I'm not playing with you. You really just need to take my waist tag."

"My wife often takes my military tally to play with. Every time, I have someone take my waist tag to fetch it. If they refused, I would whip the guards. Over time, they didn't dare to refuse."

Having his heartbreak resolved by Su Jin's few words, Zhang Wei was now much more normal, no longer overly consumed by his romantic entanglement with her.

What he thought about more now was how to keep himself and Su Jin alive.

His words were spoken with absolute sincerity.

But it left Ren Tianye utterly speechless again.

The Madam plays with the military tally!

What a ridiculous thing to say!

That is a military tally, not some jade hairpin jewelry you bought. A woman wants to play with it, and you just eagerly hand it over?

It's a miracle that these eight hundred men have survived under your command until now!

If their luck was worse, and a small force of barbarians invaded one day, but you couldn't produce the tally to deploy troops, they would all be completely doomed!

He tried hard to control himself and not get angry with this love-struck fool Zhang Wei.

He gave his deputy general Wang Ming a look.

Wang Ming began to search Zhang Wei.

A valuable item like the military tally probably wouldn't be carried on Zhang Wei's person, but the waist tag would definitely be hanging on him.

Sure enough, Wang Ming quickly found it.

"Take that maid with you to fetch the military tally."

"Yes, General!"

Wang Ming had done this once before and was very experienced.

The maid had also done it once and was experienced too.

The two cooperated very well.

The maid continued to walk trembling in front, while Wang Ming still carried a stiff bow, posing as if ready to shoot an arrow to intimidate her.

Before long, the maid arrived at the general's tent.

Just like before, she didn't dare to enter the tent and shouted, "Where are the personal guards?"

"What is it?"

"The General has ordered that the Madam wants to play with the military tally. He asks you to bring it out and hand it to me."

The maid held up Vice General Zhang's waist tag.

The guards took it and verified it. Confirming it was authentic, and seeing that it was the Madam's personal maid fetching it again, they naturally didn't dare to delay.

However, one by one, they subconsciously shook their heads like rattle drums.

This was the military tally!

It had been taken time and time again for the Madam to play with!

An item bestowed by the imperial court, controlling the lives of eight hundred soldiers—was it really treated so cheaply?

Meanwhile, the guerrilla generals in front of the camp tents instantly boiled over.

This was the first time they learned that the Madam played with the military tally. After all, it had always been fetched inside the tent before; this was the first time it was displayed in front of outsiders.

This made the guerrilla generals instantly furious.

"Nonsense! Absolute nonsense! That is a military tally, not some rouge, powder, fabric, or jewelry. How can it be shown to people so easily?"

"Play with it? Damn it, this woman wants to play with everything, doesn't she? Why doesn't she go play with the Imperial Seal?"

"Vice General Zhang actually treats the military tally as a toy for their bedroom? Where does that leave our dignity?"

"This is too much! So Vice General Zhang and his wife have been fooling around to this extent! I just hate that I didn't fight to the death to stop this woman from coming to the military camp to ruin us!"

...

As the guerrilla generals were filled with righteous indignation, a wave of coldness couldn't help but well up in their hearts.

With Vice General Zhang acting like this, even if they successfully negotiated with him, what good would it do?

Would Vice General Zhang pity the lives of their eight hundred men?

They feared Vice General Zhang only had his wife in his heart.

At this life-and-death juncture, he would only think about keeping his wife alive.

And living well!

To him, they were worse than dirt!

"Brothers..." At this moment, Sun Xiang spoke up first, his tone strained. "Why don't we come up with our own plan?"

Sun Xiang's proposal was very reasonable and struck a chord with everyone, quickly gaining their support.

Everyone was highly emotional.

After all, first there were the seventy thousand Chifeng Army soldiers slaughtered by the Empress, and now Vice General Zhang was delaying important matters for his wife.

They were all suppressing their anger.

Being at a critical moment of life and death, they were already throwing caution to the wind.

Right in front of Vice General Zhang's tent, they gathered in a circle and poured out what was in their hearts.

"Vice General Zhang is unreliable; we brothers have to step up ourselves. The way I see it, Her Majesty could swing the butcher's knife at us at any moment. Rather than sitting here waiting for death, it's better to take the initiative. We should immediately unite with other armies and submit a joint petition. When the time comes, Her Majesty won't be able to withstand such immense pressure and will likely stop targeting us."

"Inappropriate, inappropriate. Most of the people we know are border troops. If Her Majesty dared to slaughter the Chifeng Army, why wouldn't she dare to slaughter us? If you ask me, we might as well just find a mountain and become bandits. We'll have good wine and good meat—wouldn't that be a joyful life?"

"That proposal is simply absurd! How much effort have we spent, how many times have we braved life and death to earn these merits? If we become bandits, not only will our merits be gone, but we'll also be hunted down by government troops. Even if ordinary soldiers can't do anything to us, are you all really willing to just give up the positions we already hold?"

"In my eyes, our best course of action is to find a powerful patron and pledge our loyalty! The Chifeng Army may be destroyed, but there are other elite forces in this world. Our eight hundred men are no ragged band; how could there be no one willing to take us in?"

"Taking us in would be tantamount to rebellion! Who would dare set such a precedent? His Majesty slaughtered even the Chifeng Army, the finest troops in all of Great Yu. Witnessing such ruthlessness, who would dare harbor us? If you ask me, we are better off surrendering our weapons, begging for His Majesty's mercy, and asking to lay down our armor and return to the fields!"

...

Everyone chimed in, voicing their own opinions. Sun Xiang offered his thoughts as well. However, with so many voices clashing and all of them holding the equal rank of Guerrilla General, it created a stalemate where no one was willing to yield to another.

The camp was in utter chaos, making it impossible to reach a consensus.

Instead, the debate only fueled their tempers. In their fury, they were on the verge of drawing their blades against one another.

Meanwhile, Wang Ming, accompanied by the maidservant and holding the military tally, had already returned to the Madam's tent...

...